Jazz with Bob Perkins

Lovingly known as “BP with the GM” (Bob Perkins with the Good Music), BP brings you that good music just in time for dinner during your work week, and keeps your Sunday brunch swinging. His selections are like a familiar hug from Jazz Land featuring your favorite standards and vocalists such as Sarah, Ella, and Nat, some Big Band legends including the Duke and the Count, and the giants of the instrumentals like Lee Morgan, Hank Crawford, Miles, and Coltrane. Take a listen to "Ol' BP" as he calls himself...you'll be back again and again.

Thank-You Gifts for Fall Member Drive

5:48 am

Tue September 9, 2014

And now for something really fun...a definite collector's item - it's our new ceramic mug with the names of classical and jazz composers that you can find in a word-search maze right on your classical or jazz mug. Each mug comes with a dry-erase marker.

Pledge $120 during the Fall Member Drive and we'll be happy to thank you with one of these amazing mugs.

Fall Member Drive Thank-You Gifts

5:44 am

Tue September 9, 2014

Here's the new WRTI collapsible bowl for your pooch or kitty. This red and black nylon bowl is great when you're on the go. Fold it easily and toss it in your car or bag. It's emblazoned with the WRTI logo and cute paw prints.

Pledge $90 during the WRTI Fall Member Drive and we'll thank you with this very useful gift. Your pet will love it!

Fall Member Drive Thank-You Gifts

5:39 am

Tue September 9, 2014

This is must-have logo item! Show your friends, family, and neighbors just how much you love WRTI when you wear this classic navy-blue baseball cap with the WRTI logo on the front, and the website address on the back.

Your 100 Favorite Jazz Songs

6:32 pm

Fri August 29, 2014

It's a must-listen event! The top 100 jazz songs that you voted for, broadcast throughout the holiday weekend. Listen starting on Friday, August 29 at 6 pm, Sunday, August 31 from 8 to midnight, and Monday, September 1 starting at 6 pm - and ending when the #1 song is played. You'll find the list below as the countdown begins! Thank you SO much to everyone who voted this year.

In the late 1950s, detective shows were all the rage. Today, the series Peter Gunn, starring Craig Stevens as the titular gumshoe, has faded a bit from popular memory. Its theme music, however, remains unforgettable.

Drummer Jimmy Cobb, an historically important musician who duly received an NEA Jazz Master award in 2009, needs no introduction. If his only connection to jazz was through Miles Davis and playing on Kind Of Blue in 1959, his reputation would still be assured.

WRTI Spotlight

5:39 pm

Fri August 15, 2014

We have very sad news to share. Jazz violinist, improviser, composer, and educator extraordinaire John Blake, Jr. passed away today at age 67. In addition to being a sweetheart of a man, John had a fascinating career that led him to perform with Grover Washington, Jr., McCoy Tyner, Dr. Billy Taylor, Regina Carter, and the list goes on. He also gave so much of himself to thousands of students across the Philadelphia region, instilling in them his love of music and the jazz tradition. RIP, Mr. Blake.

BP Remembers Satchmo

12:27 pm

Mon August 4, 2014

Louis Armstrong was to jazz what Einstein was to physics, King to Civil Rights, Shakespeare to comedy and tragedy, and Oprah to televised entertainment. He taught the trumpet to do things the instrument didn't know it was capable of doing, and he could turn a song upside down with that deep, gravelly voice; Armstrong's contributions to the advancement of jazz as an art form are inestimable. All this, accomplished by a man who was born into abject poverty at Liberty and Perdido streets in New Orleans' Third Ward - better known as "Storyville."